Breakfast: My husband and I go down the street to the bakery for pastries and coffee. I have a mushroom-and-cheese turnover (so good, lots of mushroom and little cheese), and a slice of multigrain toast with butter.
Shopping (Co-op): 3 rolls toilet paper, dental floss, Cascadian Farms multigrain squares cereal, organic Equal Exchange coffee, half and half, tissues, $25.
Tea preparation: I had such a fun time preparing all the little dainties! While I have made the Indianers before, I was afraid they were not going to work out this time, because my egg whites just would not whip to stiff peaks. Eventually I gave up and finished the batter with very, very soft egg whites, expecting that the cakes would fail to rise and the whole Indianer plan would soon be finished (fortunately I had other sweets ready to go too). But they rose perfectly, and seemed exactly the same as when I'd baked them before. They take a while to make, because there are a lot of steps that involve chilling, but really are not difficult, and apparently are forgiving too. Recommended!
Shopping (Co-op): 3 rolls toilet paper, dental floss, Cascadian Farms multigrain squares cereal, organic Equal Exchange coffee, half and half, tissues, $25.
Tea preparation: I had such a fun time preparing all the little dainties! While I have made the Indianers before, I was afraid they were not going to work out this time, because my egg whites just would not whip to stiff peaks. Eventually I gave up and finished the batter with very, very soft egg whites, expecting that the cakes would fail to rise and the whole Indianer plan would soon be finished (fortunately I had other sweets ready to go too). But they rose perfectly, and seemed exactly the same as when I'd baked them before. They take a while to make, because there are a lot of steps that involve chilling, but really are not difficult, and apparently are forgiving too. Recommended!
 Pan all prepped for Indianers. |  Cooling under the lamp. Because that's the only place I could find to put them. |
 Various types of chocolate waiting to be melted. |  Dripping beautiful chocolate. They'll firm up after being chilled. |
The brownie recipe was new to me, but I trust Deb Perelman, particularly on a basic baked good like brownies. They were extremely easy, and fine, though I'm not sure I found them anything special. One thing I questioned in the recipe was that she instructed to bake until a toothpick came out batter-free-- I had to bake the brownies fifteen minutes longer in order to even get close to that goal. Then I felt that, once cooled, the brownies seemed overbaked. Don't worry about the toothpick, I think.
 Why do I think empty pans are beautiful? |  And big bowls with a utensil in them? |
Big bowl, utensil.
Bread pudding. More beautiful than it looks here. I was afraid the bread pudding had not worked out properly-- I was not really conscientious last night about weighting down the bread to make sure it got thoroughly soaked in egg, and after baking the suggested amount of time, the top looked somewhat dry and crusty, while there was clearly still some loose egg floating around inside. I smashed things down some and baked it ten minutes longer and then it was, to my surprise, absolutely perfect. Another forgiving recipe.
Last were the little tea sandwiches, which were 1/4-size on Whole Foods white bakery bread. The bread was protected from getting soggy with a leaf or two of herb salad mix on each side between bread and chicken or egg salad. I did end up feeling as though these were a bit bland, and I wished I had seasoned the salads a little more aggressively. But, they were good enough.
Egg salad.
Chicken salad!
Tea! with friends!: 2 chicken salad finger sandwiches and 1 egg salad finger sandwich. Mixed berries (provided by friends). One slice of bread pudding with mascarpone cheese, one brownie with mascarpone, one Indianer. 2 little cups of coffee with half and half, one little cup of tea with milk and sugar.
Snacks: Besides what was mentioned above, another 1 1/2 cups of regular coffee and one of decaf, both with half and half. Some whipped cream and batter tasting. Extended eating of tea after everyone went home in the evening: 2 more finger sandwiches, another brownie, another Indianer. A leftover fry or two from Saturday night.
Snacks: Besides what was mentioned above, another 1 1/2 cups of regular coffee and one of decaf, both with half and half. Some whipped cream and batter tasting. Extended eating of tea after everyone went home in the evening: 2 more finger sandwiches, another brownie, another Indianer. A leftover fry or two from Saturday night.
Doesn't really do it justice.